The Pack's Alpha (by Cooper) novel Chapter 33

Arden

Fucking Stellan. That prick is making this my problem when he’s the one who agreed to letting Cyra go to the Academy to begin with. Who the fuck cares if she’s a warrior. She’s going to be a Luna, produce an heir, and if she can still fight after all of that, so-the-fuck-what? It’s the Alpha’s job to protect the pack and no she-wolf, no matter how pure her blood, could ever defeat a male Alpha in battle.

Thankfully, I’m a smart man and I plan for every eventuality. I may be surprised that Cyra found her fated mate at the Academy. I mean, what are the fucking odds? But that doesn’t mean I’m not prepared to do what needs to be done.

I pull up the files on the Academy instructors that I had my Beta collect the moment we agreed to let Cyra go. I need to know who I can bribe or sweat to give me what I need.

I smile when I pull his file over and read through it.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Alpha Leo. You’ve been a bad boy,” I say. His bank records weren’t easy to get, none of theirs were, but his looks considerably different than the others. Each year for the last five years, there’s been a hefty deposit into his account before the start of the school year. This year, it came from Johnathon Davis.

I pull up my list of packs and ranked members. Johnathon Davis isn’t a current or retired ranked member in any of the packs. Shit. I know they accept warriors who they think can achieve the status of the elite warrior, but that will be like finding a needle in a haystack, even knowing his last name.

I look through Leo’s financials, back through the last ten years. Before that, everything was fine, but about six years ago, money started going out faster than it was coming in. His bank account was overdrawn when the first large deposit was made to his account. I begin collecting the information that I need to put pressure on Alpha Leo, and when I have everything, I reach for my phone.

It rings before I can dial.

I see the name on the Caller ID. Fuck!

I answer, knowing I have no choice. “Alpha Christer, what can I do for you?”

“Stellan tells me we have a problem. Do we have a problem, Arden?”

The little shit is young enough to be my son, but he gives me zero respect.

“I’m handling it,” I say.

“You know what’s a stake if this alliance bond doesn’t go through.”

“Of course I do.” How could I forget when you won’t let me. I keep that last part to myself. But I can’t help to get a little dig in. “This could all have been avoided if Stellan hadn’t agreed to let Cyra go to the Academy. I was ready to force her to decline their admission.”

“Appearances are important, wouldn’t you agree, Arden? When we lose sight of that, when we show the ugly side of who we are, well, people start taking notice. Sending Cyra to the Academy was the right thing to do. We both know that. And no one could have anticipated that she would find her mate among the twenty young recruits at the Academy. Make this right, Arden, or we’re going to have a problem.”

“I was just about to make a phone call when you called.”

“I’ll leave you to it then. Stellan found someone on the inside to keep us informed, so we’ll know if your tactics work. I’ll be in touch,” he says before hanging up.

“Fucking prick,” I growl when the line disconnects.

I’m in a shitty mood when I dial Alpha Leo’s number.

“Alpha Leo,” he answers.

“Alpha Leo, this is Alpha Arden. I need your assistance getting rid of one of your new recruits.”

“And why would I do that?” he laughs.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll have to inform the Academy and the Board of Directors that you’ve been accepting bribes to admit students who most likely weren’t up to the standard of the Academy for the last five years, therefore, taking spots from candidates who were eligible and were not admitted. I don’t think the packs would take too kindly to that, do you, Alpha?”

It’s quiet a moment. I let him fester with the knowledge that I know what he’s done.

“Who do you want gone?” he growls.

“Alpha Yorick Hill,” I say.

He laughs again, but there’s no humor in it. “That’s easier said than done.”

“Not my problem. Find a way or I’ll be forced to send your very interesting bank statements to the Academy and the Board.”

He growls.

Since I’m enjoying being on the other side of the pressure, I use Alpha Christer’s words.

“I’ll be in touch.”

I hang up and look over the information in front of me. I should probably dig a bit deeper, find out where Alpha Leo is spending his money. If it’s really bad, that would just add more incentive for him to get rid of Yorick.

I pull my computer to me and begin to dig. Very few people know that I spent half a year at the Warrior Academy. I learned a lot about hacking and building fire walls. Unfortunately, the Academy frowned on me searching for information on people where there was no legal reason to search. I was kicked out of the Academy, but I still took what I learned with me.

I stretch my arms and wiggle my fingers. It’s been a while, but let’s see how much dirt I can dig up on Alpha Leo.

Hacker POV

My computer pings with a notification that someone is doing a search on me.

I quickly search the IP address and smile. I know all the avenues to find Sphinx now. It’s not the first time she’s looked for me. Since she and I talk so frequently, I’ve kept one of my monitors focused on her work at all times and I keep the chat between us open.

‘What are you doing, Sphinx?’

‘Searching for a warrior named Jory who was at the Academy. You?’

Naughty, naughty Sphinx.

‘Yeah, you are,’ she mouths.

Before I get too interested in watching her very expressive face, I turn off the camera. I could easily become addicted to watching her.

‘Now can you get back to work?’ I ask her.

‘Yes, thank you for sharing that with me. Now, I have a question for you, work related. Do you know the names of the new recruits?’

‘Which one?’

‘Jory. I think his last name is Davis, but I’m not positive.’

I click to another screen and pull up the Academy’s roster. Jory Davis: deceased.

‘He’s the one your brother killed, right?’

‘Yeah. Yorick said he wasn’t strong enough to be at the Academy and asked me to get more information on him.’

I quickly do several searches and pull up information on Jory Davis. He absolutely should NOT have been admitted to the Academy.

“How the hell did you get admitted?” I murmur to myself. I don’t usually go down rabbit holes, but this one hits close to home. What if that were my spot that had been taken by someone who wasn’t worthy of being in the Academy?

I forward the information that I found to Wendy, but I set up my own searches to run while I continue to work on the Teymoori firewall and my other paying project.

‘Damn. I can’t wait until I’m that fast.’

‘You’ll get there. You have a great instructor.’

‘Yeah, I do. Maybe I should start calling you Surfer.’ I don’t have to have the camera on to know her lips are twitching at her little joke.

‘That’s a good way for us to stop chatting.’

‘Hacker it is then.”

I shouldn’t, I know I shouldn’t. But I flick the camera back on, just for a moment and I’m rewarded with Wendy’s brilliant smile.

Damn. I already know that smile will be showcased front and center in my dreams tonight.